Volunteering may not sound like the most appealing use of your time as a student. Your idea of volunteering may be something like this:
Katniss volunteers to save her sister from competing in The Hunger Games. Student volunteering is not a fight to the death. Nor does it have to be just a way to do a lot of work and not get paid. Here are ten reasons why you should volunteer as a student:
1. It’s fun
Whilst stacking shelves or pulling pints will get you some more money in pocket, they are hardly the most interesting jobs. Voluntary activities are generally designed with volunteer enjoyment in mind. Voluntary organisations and projects can’t motivate you with a pay cheque, so they know that you’re using your leisure time to help them out – you won’t come back or even sign up in the first place if it sounds terrible. Often, you’ll actually get something for free in the process. Last semester, I helped out with a children’s literary festival for the day. My main jobs were to collect tickets from parents and to arrange the chairs, but I got to watch the writers’ dynamic talks and have a free lunch. You can get as much out of the experience as the organisation will from having you as a volunteer.
2. Variety
Your idea of volunteering may consist purely of soup kitchens, cleaning graffiti and visiting care homes. Sure, these are all viable options, but there are plenty of more unconventional options out there for you to try. The Student Volunteer Centre is a great resource so visit their website, sign up to their newsletter or even visit them in person in Portland building. Current options include delivering workshops about genocide and discrimination in schools with Aegis Students, caring for animals and gardens with Stonebridge City Farm, and making birthday cards for sick children. Also, check out opportunities from your academic department, who may have subject-specific opportunities for you to get involved in. At the moment, I’m taking part in the School of English’s Literacy Volunteer Project, where I help primary school pupils with their reading. I’m able to use skills gained in my degree to help the community.
3. Flexible
As no one is paying for your services, you hold the power as a volunteer to choose how much time you are able and want to commit to your project. Whether you want something to do a few hours every week, or you just want to occupy yourself during an uneventful one-off afternoon, give it a go! The Student Volunteer Centre splits its website into categories: on-going volunteering, one-off volunteering and student led projects, and you can choose whatever suits you best. Make sure to stick to your commitment though – even though it’s not paid work, people still rely on you!
4. Get out of the student bubble
Sometimes as students, it’s hard to recognise that Nottingham is a city full of thousands of people who aren’t UoN students. We can easily get caught in a bubble of contact hours, societies and student club nights, leaving us without a lot of contact with the city at large. Volunteering enables you to venture out of the university and volunteer with and for people in Nottingham. You can make friends with your fellow volunteers, students or not, and get to know what it’s like to live in Nottingham when you’re not a student.
5. Giving back to the community
As young people, we tend to have a lot of frustrations with the way the world works. We like to complain about all sorts of political issues, from tuition fees to the environment. The best way to change your society, after voting, is to volunteer. Rather than merely complaining about the world do your part, however small, to make the world better. You could even be a General Election Volunteer, advertised by the Student Volunteer Centre, and give back by encouraging students to vote. As students, we have a lot of flexibility with our free time and generally less responsibilities than other cohorts, so use it to give back to the Nottingham community.
6. It’s the easiest way to get experience
To get a job after uni, you’ll need some experience. However, it can be very difficult to get experience without any in the first place. Internships, placements and part-time jobs are competitive enough, never mind graduate schemes. Nevertheless, volunteering is a great way to get experience without having experience in the first place. That isn’t to say that voluntary projects will take anyone, but skills from your degree, a willingness to help the community, and a bit of passion is generally enough to get you a voluntary opportunity. There are so many out there, that even if the first one you try is full, they’ll be lots more things to try out. Also, voluntary experience is a great way to fill up your CV because you gain skills such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving – all the buzzwords that employers look for.
It’s a new semester, so why not start it off with a sneaky bit of volunteering? The Student Volunteer Centre says it best: ‘Giving you amazing life experiences that are fun, rewarding and help change lives for the better and forever.’
Sources
http://disabilityhorizons.com/2011/11/the-power-of-volunteering/
http://www.su.nottingham.ac.uk/volunteering/
https://www.bookish.com/articles/fandom-mashups-ya-characters-sorted-int…